FEMALE SUSPECT DEAD IN CAPITOL MELEE

A female suspect is dead in the WASHINGTON DC lockdown after trying to ram the White House gate with a car.

The U.S. Capitol was placed on lockdown Thursday after shots were fired nearby and at least one police officer was reported injured.

“Shelter in place,” Capitol police officers responding to the crisis barked out. The House, which had been in the midst of heated debates over how to end the government shutdown, immediately went into recess.

Meanwhile, a police helicopter carrying heavily armed officers landed on the Mall directly in front of the building and they raced over to help. “I heard three distinct booms,” NBC correspondent Luke Russert reported.

The shots were fired near the Hart Senate Office Building at 2nd St and Constitution Avenue Northeast, only a few blocks from the U.S. Supreme Court.